Help End Prison Gerrymandering Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.

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Gila County, Arizona

According to the 2000 Census, Gila County, Arizona has a population of 51,335 people. Of those, 39,951 (78%) are White, 197 (0%) are Black, and 8,546 (17%) are Latino[1]. However, 434 (or 1% of the 51,335 people) are not residents by choice but are people in prison.

Even though prisoners cannot participate in the local community, the Census Bureau nevertheless counts them as residents of the county where they are incarcerated.

A more accurate description would not include the prisoners. This would give Gila County a population of 50,901 with a demographic that is 78% White, 0% Black, and 17% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 51,335 434 50,901
White 39,951 274 39,677
Black 197 44 153
Latino 8,546 107 8,439


Notes:

[1]The numbers for Whites, Blacks and Latinos may not add up to the total number because we have not included racial groups other than Whites and Blacks and because the Census Bureau considers "Latino" to be an ethnicity, not a race. Most of the people reported as being Latino are also counted as being White or Black.



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